Red Beans & Rice Noodles

Dep's Sean Penn impression

"No cameras! I said no cameras!!"

Patience

The waiting is hard, we desperately hope to hear some good news soon. But it is all out of our hands at this point, and its no good driving myself crazy about it. Nope, no good at all.

Dep, come home soon! We're ready for you!!

Day 57

... and counting. The USCIS told us to expect to wait 45-60 days for approval. We had our hopes up because a couple of families were notified in about 20. So if we don't get the approval email from USCIS by Friday, we are supposed to get a different email giving us a status update on the processing of our case.

Any day now we'll get the okay, and will be on a plane to Hanoi before we know it. Right? Right? Maybe even today??? That'd be super! Thanks, USCIS, you're the best!!

There have been several articles written lately about the Vietnam adoption process and denied visas. Here's a sampling:

Families Adopting in Vietnam Say They Are Caught in Diplomatic Jam - New York Times

Excerpt:

“Everything we know now says the State Department is, frankly, using these babies as a tool in a battle that has nothing to do with these families or the children themselves,” Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, told the three families who met in her office last week.

The State Department says it is making sure babies are legitimately available for adoption.

Operation Identity - Ethica

Excerpt:

The Problem: The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi is reporting that 85% of all adoptions being filed at this time are for "abandoned" children. The Embassy believes that many of these abandonment cases are staged.

Ethica believes that other factors could be influencing the trend, and there is no clear evidence on why the trend is occurring.

Diplomatic jam with the US or fraudulent practices in VN? You decide!! All I know is that so far when I've heard the mention of "concerns" from the USCIS regarding specific cases, it seems very unclear as to what the specific concerns are, and they're not being very upfront with the families with that information. If there are real red flags, they really should give the families more (or any!) information. Otherwise it does end up looking like the babies are being played as pawns in a larger political game, however valid the investigations are.

Seacrest out.
(Why doesn't he ever say that anymore? Such a shame.)